11,733 Bio-Techne Corp $TECH Shares Sold by Sepio Capital LP

Sepio Capital LP lowered its position in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 78.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,132 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 11,733 shares during the quarter. Sepio Capital LP’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of TECH. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,072 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,006,000 after acquiring an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 31.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 5,408 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $392,000 after acquiring an additional 1,302 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 10.8% in the third quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 3,381 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 3,971 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on TECH. Wells Fargo & Company cut Bio-Techne from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $73.00 in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.92.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 0.1%

TECH traded down $0.07 during trading on Friday, reaching $72.55. 1,898,363 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,885,220. The company has a quick ratio of 3.35, a current ratio of 4.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $72.42 and its 200 day moving average is $64.50. Bio-Techne Corp has a 12 month low of $43.19 and a 12 month high of $72.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.38 billion, a PE ratio of 63.09, a P/E/G ratio of 8.97 and a beta of 1.30.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.52. The business had revenue of $321.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $314.63 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.23% and a net margin of 14.97%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.70 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 24th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 24th. This is an increase from Bio-Techne’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.83%.

Bio-Techne Company Profile

Bio-Techne Corporation is a life sciences company that develops and supplies research and diagnostic products for biotechnology, pharmaceutical, academic, clinical and other laboratory customers. The company supports biological research, drug discovery and development, and diagnostic testing through a portfolio of reagents, instruments and analytical technologies.

Its products include proteins, antibodies, immunoassays, flow cytometry reagents, molecular biology tools and cell culture materials.